(A) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for the separation and recovery of cane lipids contained in cane molasses, etc., by extracting the same with a lower alcohol.
Cane lipids (commonly called "cane wax") which are present in sugarcane bark are a whitish waxy substance assumed to be present for the protection of the bark surface. As the comsumption of natural waxes like carnauba wax and candida wax is increasing in various areas such as for the lubrication of office automation machines and equipment, for car wax, and in cosmetics manufacture, there is a shortage in the available supply since these substances are collected in distant and isolated areas such as the interior of Brazil along the Amazon River or the deserts of Mexico. Cane wax is attracting attention as a substitute for these better known natural waxes.
(B) Description of Related Art
As cane wax is found on the cane bark surface, it has heretofore been extracted from the cane bark (e.g. the method of Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Sho No. 59-53427) or from the solid residue of pressed cane (hereinafter referred to as "bagasse").
It is said that as early as in the World War I cane wax was extracted from bagasse using such solvents as benzene and toluene in the Republic of South Africa and Java. However, the practice is said to have been abandoned after the war because the recovery rate of the solvent was low and there was substantially no way for recycling the bagasse after extraction.
It was assumed that owing to the improved performance of clarifying systems for cane juice, any cane wax in the squeezed cane juice would tend to adhere to the filter cake in the juice clarifying operation and scarcely remain in the clarified juice. From around 1960, therefore, extraction of cane wax from the filter cake was practiced on an industrial scale in Cuba, Australia, etc. This method likewise proved defective similar to bagasse in that the recovery rate of solvents such as benzene and toluene is low or that the filter cake after recovery of wax has substantially no utility. This method was additionally disadvantageous for economic reasons because the filter cake spoils so readily, e.g. in one day, and its operation is seasonal and of very limited duration. The manufacture was hence totally discontinued by around 1980.
There has been no mention in the past up to the present either in literatures or actual production reports of, the idea of or any attempt at recovering cane wax from the cane juice in the post-process of cane juice clarification.